Chapter 31 · The Name Her Mother Buried

The gunshot cracks through the safe house before I can scream.

Marcus drops. Not him—the woman behind him. Cole's already moving, dragging me back as Marcus spins, confusion smeared all over his face. The woman's gun hits the concrete. She doesn't.

"Go." Marcus doesn't look at us. His hand's shaking on his own weapon. "Rena's got maybe ten minutes before they find her."

Cole pulls me toward the back exit. Wren's already there, one hand on the door panel, the other cradling his ribs. His face is gray.

"Where?" I manage.

"Old monitoring station." Wren's breathing's wrong. "Two blocks east. She's jacked into the alliance archive backbone. If she gets the bloodline registry out—"

"They'll kill her." Cole's voice is barely there. His curse did something to his vocal cords years ago. Every word costs him.

Wren nods.

We run.

The monitoring station used to track freight routes before the alliance bought up the industrial quarter. Now it's a concrete shell with rusted rail spurs and a basement full of fiber lines the city forgot to rip out. Rena's operating van is parked against the north wall, back doors open.